For many years in the industrialized world, fruit juices and sugared fruit punches have been staple drinks for children at meal times, snacks, and after vigorous exercise. For many years, spilled juice has stuck to hundreds of kitchen and playroom floors drawing bugs, creating messes, and causing numerous problems for the parents of juice drinking children.
Recent developments in container technology in drink processing have led to the widespread use of disposable cardboard containers for drinks for children and adults. The most popular of these are individual serving sized containers for juices and punches. The contents are processed for storage without refrigeration. The containers generally are made of a laminate of cardboard and plastic or impregnated cardboard and paper which allows the juice to be stored and also allows the container to be immersed in liquid, such as the water which results from melting ice in a cooler, without unduly saturating and weakening the container. Such containers are also used for ultra high temperature (UHT) processed milk which may be stored for long periods of time at room temperatures.
Such cartons are normally constructed with an orifice sized to fit a straw of predetermined diameter. The orifice is normally sealed by flexible metal foil, which foil is made from one layer of the laminate from which the carton is constructed.
For the sake of convenience and portability, drinks packaged in such individual serving size containers are normally accompanied by a flexible straw sized to fit into the access orifice of the carton. Since there is a tradeoff between ease of access to the carton and the integrity of the seal at the access orifice prior to use, it is common to find such straws having diagonal cuts on one end to provide a point to assist in penetration of the foil seal.
As all parents who have dealt with such juice containers in the hands of small children know, drinking from a straw inserted into such a container is an acquired skill. In particular, as the use of such containers has become more prevalent, people have learned to take advantage of their convenience and often use them in outdoor settings after organized sporting activities, for picnics, and the like. The problem which gave rise to the present invention is the propensity of children to withdraw the straws from these containers at inopportune times, which often results in further problems.
The most common further problem is the dropping of the straw onto some unsanitary surface such as the ground or the floor. Additionally, loss of the straw is not uncommon.
Another problem arises when children try to reinsert the straws into such containers. This often creates a duplication of a problem which arises on the initial insertion of the straw, i.e., the child squeezing the container vigorously causing juice to be ejected through the orifice or the inserted straw on to the child's clothing or some other inappropriate receptacle for the carton's contents.
Thus, there is a need in the art, which is fully appreciated by parents of young children, to provide a straw which is resistant to retraction from a standard disposable juice carton, particularly when used by children.
Additionally, similar problems can arise when using disposable cups with perforated lids for receiving straws, such cups being of the type in which drinks are commonly dispensed by fast food restaurants. In recent years, increased awareness, as well as increased legislation, has led to widespread use of restraining devices for small children riding as passengers in automobiles. Many parents today place their children in the rear seat of an automobile in a restraining safety device to maximize the probability that the child will survive a crash of an automobile. As parents who have dealt with such devices know, dropped toys, straws, and the like usually lead to circumstances in which the child cannot reach the dropped item and the parent cannot, due to either the required contortions or inattention to the road, retrieve the dropped item for the child until the trip is over. Thus, there is a like need for a retraction resistant straw which can be used in conjunction with perforated cup tops and virtually any device having a relatively small orifice or split perforation for accepting a straw.